20-21 Annual Education Report (AER)

February 15, 2021

Dear Parents and Community Members:

We are pleased to present you with the Annual Education Report (AER) which provides key information on the 2019-20 educational progress for Wesley School. The AER addresses the complex reporting information required by federal and state laws. The school’s report contains information about student assessment, accountability, and teacher quality. If you have any questions about the AER, please contact Mary Bradley for assistance.

The AER is available for you to review electronically by visiting the following web site: https://bit.ly/3s1FcK1, or you may review a copy in the main office at your child’s school.

For the 2019-20 school year, schools were identified using definitions and labels as required in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). A Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) school is one that has at least one underperforming student subgroup. An Additional Targeted Support (ATS) school is one that has a student subgroup performing at the same level as the lowest 5% of all schools in the state. A Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) school is one whose performance is in the lowest 5% of all schools in the state or has a graduation rate at or below 67%. Some schools are not identified with any of these labels. In these cases, no label is given. Our school has not been given one of these labels.

Key Challenges

Wesley School serves students with cognitive impairments and autism. All students demonstrate difficulty with communication and adaptive skills. Many students have severe behavior challenges which hinder their ability to be educated alongside their general education peers. Students in grades third through eleventh participate in the alternate assessment, Mi-Access, each spring. This is the only standardized curriculum assessment administered to our students, as the NAEP and M-STEP is not appropriate for our level of learners.

State law requires that we also report additional information.

Assigning Pupils to Wesley School and Transition Campus

Classroom programming is provided to students whose Individualized Education Plan determines Wesley School to be the least-restrictive environment. Students who attend Wesley School are between the ages of 3 and 18 years of age. If parents are interested in programming, their first contact should be with the local special education director. The referral process includes information provided by the local district with collaboration from Wesley Staff, to ensure each student is able to receive free and appropriate public education (FAPE) in their least restrictive environment (LRE). The Transition Campus is an elective postsecondary program that assists participants 18-26 years of age gain skills and make connections that facilitate independence in employment, daily living skills, self-advocacy and community living. The Transition Campus works directly with local agencies to support participants in developing independence and

reaching their goals.

School Improvement

We are currently shifting our school improvement team to a Building Network Team to align with the BluePrint framework that has recently been adopted by Muskegon Area ISD. This team helps to collect and analyze various forms of data, as well as make recommendations for professional learning and school wide improvement. Currently, we are focusing on identifying systems and working to improve these to be process dependent instead of person dependent. The team is also focused on improving our assessment practices, after analyzing five years of literacy data, the team is making recommendations for the next school year.

Core Curriculum

All students at Wesley School participate in an alternate curriculum. Grades PreK-12th instruction is based on ELA and Math standards from the Common Core Essential Elements (CCEE) and students age 18 and over engage in activities tied to the Life Centered Education (LCE) standards. Our programs focus on building communication and literacy skills, as well as transition-related needs, which are identified in each students’ IEP (Individualized Education Plan).

Parent Teacher Conferences

During the 2019-2020 school year, parents were offered virtual opportunities to engage in conferences. As these were scheduled less than one month after the statewide closure due to Covid-19, many parents were not able to engage in formal “parent-teacher conferences” but did participate in weekly communication with their child’s teacher throughout the closure. In year’s past, our percentage of parents who did engage is listed below:

2018/2019:84%

2017/2018:91%

2016/2017:88.6%

2015/2016:86%

Wesley School is a wonderful place to learn and to work. Staff hold high expectations for students and continue to strive for improved instruction. Throughout the pandemic, staff have committed themselves to engaging in regular communication with our families and utilized their creativity to design lessons for their students. I commend the Wesley families, staff and students for their continued efforts to strive for excellence and the best outcomes for our programs, despite all the challenges we continue to face in school and in our nation.

Sincerely,

Mary Bradley

Wesley School Principal

Katie Slaghuis

Transition Campus Principal